Alberta’s information and privacy commissioner says she is worried — but not surprised — the province voted this week to pass legislation she says will reduce public access to government information. “I am concerned,” commissioner Diane McLeod said in an interview. “All of those things I think are going to impact the right of access […]

An Alberta government bill proposing changes to freedom of information rules has passed third and final reading in the legislature despite the province’s information and privacy watchdog warning they will “significantly degrade” transparency. The bill, now awaiting royal assent, creates a number of new exemptions for what documents can be provided to members of the […]

Freedom-of-information or access-to-information laws are not something that the average person thinks about every day, but they are a part of laws in every province and territory in the country and are designed to give people the right to obtain records from public institutions. Having access to the information they need to make informed decisions […]

WINNIPEG — The ceremony that saw Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and his cabinet ministers sworn in at the province’s new horticultural showcase cost $19,600 and was almost held outside, information obtained by The Canadian Press shows. The newly elected NDP government, having ended seven years of Tory rule, opted to hold the Oct. 18 ceremony […]

The Alberta Energy Regulator is considering allowing oil and gas companies to reduce their environmental liabilities on old well sites before the cleanup is certified complete. The regulator says the move would reward companies that remediate their old sites promptly, cutting the amount of environmental red ink on their books and making it easier for […]

This article was originally published on The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Disclosure information is available on the original site. “A hustle in the oil patch”, a “dirty legacy”: These are just a couple of the ways that the escalating costs of abandoning and reclaiming non-producing […]

It’s no secret oilsands companies intend to ramp up production despite the rapidly worsening impacts of the climate crisis, and one longtime industry executive laid out his arguments for doing just that at a federal committee Monday. Testimony from Rich Kruger, CEO of Suncor, made a spirited case for continuing to pull fossil fuels out […]

Academics at the University of Calgary are calling for a public review of the Alberta Energy Regulator, describing it as secretive and too close to industry. In a peer-reviewed report issued by the university’s School For Public Policy, three authors examine what they call a “massive policy failure” in dealing with the large and growing […]

(ANNews) — The Acimowin Opaspiw Society (AOS) Investigation Methodologies National Symposium took place on September 26-28, 2023, at the River Cree Resort in Edmonton. At the symposium, participants were provided with a presentation on Access to Restricted Church Records by Leah Redcrow, Investigation Director of the Blue Quills Missing Children and Unmarked Burials Inquiry and […]

CALGARY — An embattled Calgary energy company is fighting the provincial regulator’s decision to seize thousands of its inactive wells. AlphaBow Energy has complained to the Alberta ombudsman and the province’s information and privacy commissioner over the Alberta Energy Regulator transferring control of more than 6,000 wells, pipeline segments and other facilities to the Orphan […]

SASKATOON — A technology used by a specialized RCMP team to search for people in high-risk situations was not immediately available as Mounties responded to a stabbing rampage and the hunt for a mass killer in Saskatchewan because it was held up under the federal procurement process. Documents obtained under freedom of information laws show […]

EDMONTON — An Alberta government service provider says the records of more than 1.4 million residents were the target of a cyberattack last month. Alberta Dental Service Corporation says in a news release that a third party gained unauthorized access to part of its information technology infrastructure. It says that third party was able to […]